The present invention relates to a technique which is effectively applied to an MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) structure protection technology in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor integrated circuit device (or a semiconductor device).
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-126182 (Patent Document 1) or U.S. Pat. No. 7,451,656 (Patent Document 2) corresponding to this discloses a technology for configuring a pressure sensor with top two layers of a wiring layer after a micro circuit is formed in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor integrated circuit device having an MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) structure such as a pressure sensor.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-203420 (Patent Document 3) or U.S. Pat. No. 7,670,861 (Patent Document 4) corresponding to this discloses a technology for configuring an MEMS structure with a material capable of forming the MEMS structure at a low temperature in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor integrated circuit device having the MEMS structure. In this technology, it is proposed that annealing for removing the stress of the MEMS structure should be carried out at a low temperature that does not adversely affect other micro integrated circuit elements.
Rao R. Tummala, “Fundamentals of Microsystems Packaging”, McGRAW-HILL, 2001, pp. 558-559 (Non-patent Document 1) gives a description of a method of manufacturing a semiconductor integrated circuit device having an MEMS structure. An approach to release an MEMS element, that is, an approach to make the MEMS element movable before dicing and an approach to release an MEMS element after dicing are described in this document as process strategies for avoiding an adverse effect on the MEMS element by wafer dicing.
Rao R. Tummala & Madhavan Swaminathan, “Introduction to System-on-Package (SOP)”, McGRAW-HILL, 2008, pp. 495-532 (Non-patent Documents 2) teaches that WLP (Wafer-level Packaging) system is more advantageous than CSP (Chip-scale Packaging) system in terms of cost and manufacturing efficiency.